Amoeba Music

Halloween Ends is the final installment in the Halloween series and with John Carpenter handling composer duties, it's a fittingly epic send-off. Alongside Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, John Carpenter has created some truly chilling tracks, replete with all the stabbing synths, icy soundscapes, and menacing melodies that have made the Halloween scores so iconic. The album both inspires dread and attraction; the songs balance a sense of majesty with a sense of ineffable terror. What made the original soundtracks so brilliant will draw fans to Halloween Ends; it's Carpenter's evolutions in sound and ongoing ability to grip listeners by the heart (and throat) that'll keep them coming back.

Robin Carolan & Sebastian Gainsborough’s score for Robert Eggers’ early Norse saga The Northman is evocative and epic. Out via Sacred Bones, the album traverses deep psychological territory and sweeping terrain, calling to mind mind majestic northern landscapes, harrowing human acts of violence, and swirling supernatural occurrences. The tracks seamlessly slip from bristling, percussion-driven tense atmospherics into a sort of medieval psychedelia and into an icy, anticipation-heavy avant-garde. Keening strings and awe-inspiring choral vocals add emotional and sonic layers to the folk meets ambient soundscapes; it’s a stirring listen, as crystalline in its beauty and brutal in its nature as the North itself.